DES MOINES, IOWA.- The Des Moines Art Center announces the presentation of the exhibition Space Program: Tthe Minimalist Aesthetic/Selections from the Permanent Collections on view from August 23 – October 19, 2003.

Space Program will present work in diverse media informed by a minimalist aesthetic. All work in the exhibition has been chosen from the Art Center’s vast permanent collections. In many cases, it will present work that has not been on view to the public for years and place it in the context of the prevailing movement at the time it was created. This exhibition features artists who were at the forefront of the Minimalist movement, as well as artists who influenced the movement or borrowed visual elements from it to create their work. Artists represented in the exhibition include Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Charles Biederman, Jean Davis, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Will Mentor, Robert Smithson, Dorothea Rockburne, and Frank Stella, among others.

“A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself,” declared Donald Judd. This sentiment, coupled with a desire to connect with everyday life, echoes throughout the exhibition. Minimalist sculpture, in particular, attempts to straddle the boundary between art and life with a visual simplicity that offers a sense of purity and stability. By eliminating pedestals that distance the audience from traditional sculpture, these works exist on the same ground as the viewer. The sculptures are constructed from objects we see in our homes and offices, from fluorescent lights to frosted glass to metal boxes. Likewise, artists who work in two-dimensional media, such as painting and printmaking, use the language of recognizable shapes and logical patterns.

The simplicity of these forms can be deceptive. Their unique, physical presence and ordered compositions explore complex issues of geometry, space, and light.

Funding for Space Program: Inspired by Minimalism/Selections from the Permanent Collections and its related programs comes from the Wallace Reader’s Digest Funds, Contemporary Collectors and the Corporate Council through the Major Exhibition Fund. Executive Fellows: AmerUs Group Foundation and Principal Financial Group Foundation, Inc.; Executive Partners: Allied Insurance/Nationwide Insurance, Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture, Meredith Corporation, and Wells Fargo Financial, Inc.; Corporate Partners: American Republic Insurance Co. and Hy-Vee, Inc.; Business Partners: Commercial Federal Bank Corporation, Homesteaders Life Company, Mid-America Foundation, and West Bank; Small Business Partners: Charles Gabus Ford, Compressor Controls Corporation, EMCO Enterprises, Inc., Essex Meadows, Inc., Faegre and Benson, LLP, Fred Nesbit Distributing Co., Hubbell Realty Company, MidAmerican Energy Co., National By-Products, LLC, Pro Search, Inc./Connie Newlin, The Vernon Company, and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield